Reuters (April 1)
“Global equity markets surged on Thursday, with U.S. and European benchmark indexes hitting record highs, as the strongest manufacturing data around the world in decades and a drop in bond yields drove investor optimism.” Support is strong with “multiple tailwinds— stimulus, expectations of record earnings, vaccines—driving stocks higher.”
Tags: Benchmark, Bond yields, Earnings, Equity, Europe, Global, Indexes, Investor, Manufacturing, Markets, Optimism, Stimulus, Surged, Tailwinds, U.S.
Wall Street Journal (October 31)
“The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined Friday, closing out its worst week and month since March in the final lap of the presidential race. Volatility reigned” as “investors have been spooked by a record high in coronavirus infections in the U.S., fresh lockdowns in Europe that threaten economic growth and a mixed bag of earnings report from big technology companies.”
Tags: Big tech, Coronavirus, Declined, Dow Jones, Earnings, Economic growth, Europe, Investors, Lockdowns, March, Presidential race, Spooked, Threaten, U.S., Volatility, Worst
Bloomberg (April 28)
“For years, technologists have been talking about smarter cars packed with sensors, chips and supercomputers that can replace human drivers.That was enough to get investors excited about the future of automotive semiconductors.” As earnings reports are revealing, however, there is “one slight flaw in the plan: People need to actually buy cars.”
Tags: Automotive, Cars, Chips, Drivers, Earnings, Investors, Semiconductors, Sensors, Supercomputers, Technologists
Chicago Tribune (September 26)
“The gap between the haves and have-nots in the United States grew last year to its highest level in more than 50 years of tracking income inequality.” Demographics is one of the drivers. “On one side, at the peak of their earnings, are baby boomers who are nearing retirement, if they haven’t already retired. On the other side are millennials and Gen Zers, who are in the early stages of their work life and have lower salaries.”
Tags: Baby boomers, Demographics, Earnings, Gap, Gen Zers, Income inequality, Millennials, Retirement, Salaries, U.S., Work
Bloomberg (August 1)
“After earnings carnage at global auto rivals,” Toyota is in the “spotlight.” From Detroit to Seoul, Toyota’s global rivals “fell short of estimates and warned of more pain from the trade war.” In contrast, “the world’s most valuable automaker will likely report modest sales and earnings growth for the most recent quarter.” But going forward the automaker still “faces a fight on every front. Potential U.S. tariffs threaten to cripple demand in its biggest market, rivals continue to pull ahead in China, and at home, the top-selling Prius is suffering a slump in popularity.”
Tags: Auto rivals, Carnage, China, Detroit, Earnings, Estimates, Growth, Prius, Sales, Seoul, Tariffs, Toyota, Trade war, U.S.
The Economist (February 3)
University degrees are becoming more widespread. In South Korea, for example, 70% “of pupils who graduate from the country’s secondary schools now go straight to university… up from 37% in 2000.” The cost of a degree is also rising and evidence suggests ROI is falling. Still, “most young people will want a degree. It may not boost their earnings as much as they had hoped, but without one, they will probably fare even worse,” as a degree has also become the entry level threshold for many positions.
Tags: Cost, Degrees, Earnings, Entry level, ROI, South Korea, Threshold, University, Widespread
Fortune (January 4)
“By the end of the first three working days of the year, the U.K.’s top bosses will each have earned on average as much as a typical worker will take home in all of 2018, according to a report. While the difference in compensation appears stark, it narrowed slightly compared with the previous year.” Studies show “earnings for CEOs in the U.K.’s benchmark FTSE 100 dropped by a fifth in 2016 to 4.5 million pounds ($5.4 million)” and that the CEO-to-worker pay ratio stood at around 120 to 1, much lower than the 347 to 1 of S&P 500 companies.
Barron’s (November 20)
According to Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s Ajay Kapur, “Asian and emerging markets could easily double over the next two years or so…. It is really earnings that are driving Asian markets. Global growth is not that strong, but it is pervasive. Of the 38 countries from which we get purchasing-managers index information, 87% are above 50, which means they are expanding. That’s the highest since 2011.”
Tags: Asia, BoA, Earnings, Emerging markets, Expanding, Global growth, Kapur, Merrill Lynch, PMI
Fortune (June 19)
Amazon’s all-time high stock price put founder Jeff Bezos ”about $4 billion away from overtaking Gates, who is worth about $90 billion…. Since Bezos net worth is largely tied to his 78.9 million shares of Amazon, becoming the world’s richest person is completely within the realm of possibility. After all, his net worth has already shot up by $19.3 billion in the last six months thanks to strong earnings and growing investor confidence in the economy, sending Amazon’s stock 35% higher since the start of the year.”
Tags: Amazon, Bezos, Confidence, Earnings, Economy, Gates, Investor, Net worth, Stock price, World's richest
Euromoney (February Issue)
“New accounting rules requiring banks to take upfront charges against possible losses through the full life of a loan promise damaging pro-cyclicality.” IFRS 9 comes into effect next January. It “will require banks to recognize expected loan losses even before borrowers miss a single interest or principal repayment.” This major change “will hit both reported earnings and capital even if a borrower manages to remain current on debt servicing.” Uncertainty abounds, but it looks like “US and Japanese banks will be subject to their own variant, current expected credit loss (CECL), under US GAAP.”
Tags: Accounting rules, Banks, Borrowers, Capital, CECL, Earnings, GAAP, IFRS 9, Interest, Loan losses, Principal, Repayment, Upfront charges
